Despite Scripps College being just two hours away from where I grew up, lately I’ve found myself wishing to close my eyes, click my heels and vanish by declaring the phrase: “There’s no place like home.”
Whether it’s a house, a town or a group of people, home is something you find yourself missing as soon as it’s gone. For me, home where I was born and lived my entire life: the sunny, coastal city of San Diego.
I didn’t know it was possible to long for a place that was so close yet so far. But after spending the school year in a new and unfamiliar place, I began to think of my old routines like passing by the infamous post-football game. In-N-Out on my drive to school and watching the sunset on the train tracks at Del Mar beach.
The more I missed home, however, the more I sought out ways of making college more meaningful to me. It wasn’t so much the places I was remembering, but the memories I had created.
Through clubs and affinity spaces, college has provided an unexpected opportunity to combat homesickness by connecting me to my Asian heritage and culture in a way I didn’t experience on the sunny coast.
Although I love my hometown of San Diego, I often felt the disconnect that many people of color face while growing up in a predominantly white community. I expected going to school at the 5Cs would be a similar experience, but surprisingly I have found the opposite.
Engaging with the Asian community has been a natural avenue for me to create meaningful relationships and experiences. Joining affinity groups in my first semester was my first big step in realizing that any place — even a college campus — can transform into a home away from home.
When I first joined these groups, I entered the space with uncertainty. From being in numerous clubs throughout high school that were (not so secretly) created to impress on college applications, how else was I expected to feel?
I was proven wrong as early on…
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